


The Invisibility Cloak

by Eowima



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Becoming best friends again, Cute little FitzSimmons babies, F/M, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Gen, I love them okay, Not Canon Compliant, Pranks and Practical Jokes, set during season 2
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:14:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27190930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eowima/pseuds/Eowima
Summary: What if Fitz-Simmons had more time after Jemma came back from her undercover assignment in Hydra, before the entire mess with the underwater alien city, Trip dying and Skye getting her powers? What if they started working on a little fun project together involving cloaking and pranks?What if that project helped them get back to being friends... and helped Jemma realize that she might have a major case offeelingsfor her best friend after all?
Relationships: Leo Fitz & Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons
Comments: 12
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!  
> Here's a new little something, hope you enjoy it! :D  
> Just so you know, I really wanted to write about Fitz-Simmons in this particular set up, aka awkward (kind of a little resentful from Fitz' part too) relationship where neither of them knows where they stand, but since season 2 is kind of NON STOP there wasn't really room to do this very canon-compliantly. So this particular fic is set up at the beginning of season 2, after Fitz told her he didn't want to work with her anymore, but BEFORE Trip's death and Skye gets her powers (because after that it's all so very messy and Jemma gets very scared and stuff, so yeah). Hope this makes sense lol

**The Invisibility Cloak**

It's late at night. The base is quiet, the lights tamed, for once there's no buzzing activity anywhere. It's been a very busy couple of months, and the slowness of this particular evening is definitely welcome. Jemma Simmons walks quietly in the familiar corridors, letting her feet unconsciously lead her where she's so used to go. She hasn't spent that much time in the lab in weeks – what with her being away on her undercover assignment in Hydra, and then with the definite tensions between Fitz and her she unwillingly brought with her when she came back. She obviously never intended things to go the way they did, but sadly that wasn't just her call.

But things are getting better, she thinks.

Now he's willing to look at her again. To meet her eyes. To talk to her.

They haven't found their way back to how they were before everything, but she thinks they're slowly getting there – even if she knows he still feels resentment towards her. She wishes she could explain why she left in the first place, but she doesn't think she has the guts to just do that. She doesn't want to put this weight on him. She left because her presence wasn't helping him get better, while he thinks he didn't get better because she left. But he did. She left him when he was barely able to spring out more than a few words, and now... well now, he's looking more and more like the Fitz she's known and loved for so long.

Tonight is a good example of how much he's recovered.

They were about to have a movie night with the team – Bobbi, Skye, Trip, Hunter, Mack, Fitz and her. Mack was in charge of picking the movie, so everyone knew it would probably have something to do with robots. They were all set, popcorn and beers ready, and waiting for Fitz to show up, but when he eventually did it was to tell them that he had something else he wanted to work on in the lab, and to watch the movie without him.

From the look everyone exchanged at that, Jemma easily deduced that this wasn't common at all. She cannot pretend she knows what's common and what's not anymore, concerning Fitz. It's been tough. Coming back to him to find him better, and yet still so fundamentally _different_. But she thinks she's made her peace with it. As far as she's concerned, despite his brain injury, he's still the same wonderful, smart, handsome man she became best friends with all those years ago.

Knowing that he's willingly working on something in the lab made her heart swell in her chest.

He's growing more confident in his abilities again. She cannot help feeling a small tug of mixed pride and sadness at this thought – because he should never have lost his confidence in himself in the first place.

But that's an entire other subject to discuss.

Jemma slows down her pace as she nears the entrance of the lab, quietly approaching without really knowing why. She's feeling a little nervous, which has been the case every time she's been around him since she came back. She so desperately wants things to go back to the way they were, despite knowing that they never will. It breaks her heart ever so slightly.

She catches sight of him, standing at his work table, his back hunched over his 'project' – she cannot see what it is from where she stands, and she's hesitant to approach him. He seems deeply focused, she can tell even without seeing much of his face. A fond smile stretches her lips for a second, then she shakes her head and goes back towards the kitchen, a plan forming in her head. How many times have they worked too late on projects back at the Academy and in Sci-Ops? In the Bus too, for that matter. It used to drive Skye nuts, seeing them running around and bickering all night in the lab, when they could have been binge-watching another show with her instead.

The memory brings another soft smile to Jemma's lips as she starts preparing two cups of tea. She hesitates for a second as she makes Fitz', wondering if he's changed the way he drinks his tea since she left for Hydra. Hopefully not. She knows for a fact that he's always had it the same way since she first met him – two sugars, one and a half tea-spoon of cream. It wouldn't make sense for him to change it now, would it?

She's definitely overthinking this.

Why does it have to be so hard, when their friendship used to be so effortless?

_You're more than that, Jemma._

A shiver runs up her spine and she forces herself to ignore the pounding in her heart these few words instantly generate. They never exactly talked about what he told her that day, at the bottom of the ocean. She doesn't even know what she'd have to say anyway. This is all just... very disconcerting, really.

And probably also one of the many reasons why it's still weird between them, if she had to guess. The healthy thing would be to talk it out – even if she has no idea where _she_ stands for that matter – but she cannot find the courage to even think about it.

_I couldn't find the courage to tell you._

Jemma carefully grabs the two cups of tea and makes her way back to the lab, focusing on the second part of her plan – instead of the pesky thoughts of Fitz basically telling her he loves her at the bottom of the ocean. Talk about bad timing. Right as they were about to probably _die_ – because yeah, sure, they had a plan to get out of the pod, but after that, what? They got very lucky. They had no idea Nick Fury of all people was looking for them and picked up on the distress signal Fitz managed to send with the EKG.

The signal... She wonders if there ever _were_ signals indicating that Fitz liked her in a more-than-friends kind of way, or if she was just too oblivious to pick up on them at all.

If he ever came close to tell her the truth.

What would have happened if he had told her, in a none life-or-death type of situation.

No, _no_ , she's not thinking about that.

She's gonna bring him his tea, like a peace offering of some sort. They always used to prepare each other tea before. Every night they studied together at the Academy, almost every night at Sci-Ops when they were roommates, and definitely every night when they were on the Bus. A throwback feel good tea kind of thing.

Even without taking in consideration what he told her that day, she so desperately wants to be his friend again.

She misses him, a lot.

So this is probably a good start. She really hopes so.

Jemma walks purposefully inside the lab, despite her pounding heart, and Fitz looks up from his work at the sound of her steps. "There you are,"she smiles lightly at him and when his lower lip twitches she takes it as an invitation to come closer and sets his cup on his bench, not to close to his work. He mouths a quiet thanks and she nods, wrapping her hands around the soothing warmth of her own cup. "We missed you during movie night," she tells him quietly, after a few seconds of trying not to stare too obviously at each other.

Fitz looks down at his feet at that, and she notes the way his cheeks seem to redden just a little. "You did?" he asks doubtfully, and she cannot help her frown.

_I_ _know_ I _did_. Oops, can't say that. "You know Mack was very excited about the Terminator marathon," she reminds him insteadwith an indulgent smile, and he nods pensively.

"Right."

There's another silence, and Jemma isn't entirely sure if it's awkward or tense. He isn't looking at her nor touching his tea either, and she feels a tinge of sadness at this observation. It feels like he's slipping away from her, and she's almost desperate to hold onto him as hard as she can. "So what are you working on?" she asks timidly after a moment, and is surprised to actually see him give her a side-eye in response.

"It's classified."

She can't help it: she snorts, and the corner of his lips twitch again as he grabs his cup and takes a sip of his tea. The muscles of his face relax ever so slightly, and she breathes out the tiniest sigh of relief. "Oh really?" she then retorts with a raised eyebrow, her heart jumping in her chest as Fitz' eyes light up with a mischievous glint she hasn't seen in _ages_.

"Eh," he pretends to sigh, setting his cup back on the table, "I guess I could probably do an exception and tell _you_ about it."

The amusement is still obvious in his eyes, and she responds in kind with a bright smile of her own. "How kind of you," she teases, and Fitz looks away at that, focusing back on his project, apparently embarrassed – if she's reading his body language right. The atmosphere switches back to awkward in a split second, leaving her a little lost. He's fidgeting again, a clear sign that he is uncomfortable and perhaps nervous as well, and she doesn't understand _why_ exactly.

Was it the friendly banter between them? They used to do that all the time, teasing each other and arguing about more or less important things, and it never really got weird, or at least not that she remembers. She wonders if it has to do with what he told her... or if it's maybe linked to his injury? Probably not a good idea to ask him about it either way, she knows how susceptible he can get. Plus, he's still pretty mad at her for leaving when he was still in recovery, so that's definitely not the most sensible thing to do.

She chooses to brush past it instead, pretending not to notice – although she knows he knows she actually did. She's not sure if he's relieved about it or pissed, to be honest. She used to understand him perfectly, she could interpret every micro-expression of his and even anticipate his reactions, but now... now it's like she doesn't even know him anymore.

People used to say that they were psychicly linked... but she's pretty sure the link died when Grant Ward threw them at the bottom of the ocean. She's never hated someone as much as she hates him.

But that's another subject, once again.

Jemma moves her gaze to the object Fitz is currently fidgeting with, raising a curious eyebrow as she tries to make sense of what it is. It looks like some kind of large blanket, covered in small complicated electronic panels that kind of look like the cloaking technology he's been working on for Coulson – using the Quinjet they managed to steal for the US government while she was still undercover in Hydra. She cannot help the surge of curiosity as her brain makes the connection.

"Can I– take a look?" she asks quietly, eyeing his reaction.

"Oh uh, right, sure, go ahead," Fitz stammers, taking a step back from his bench, running a slightly shaky hand through his hair.

She gives him a small smile as a thank you, then takes his place in front of the 'project', tuning in with the analyticalside of her brain. She runs a light hand over the components, then raises part of the blanket to eye level, noting that it's only covered on one side, the other side soft and warm like a quilt. She moves her attention back to the panels, very curious to confirm her first impression. "Is that..." she starts, and smiles to herself when Fitz steps in next to her before she can even finish her sentence.

"Cloaking technology?" he supplies shyly, and she turns to meet his eyes, noding with a grin. "Yeah, yeah it is."

"Fitz, this is extraordinary," she tells him, looking back at the object in her handsbut not missing on his satisfied look at her praise. "Are you working on this for Coulson?" she asks after another minute of studying the blanket.

"Um, no actually," he mumbles, fidgeting with a screwdriver and avoiding her gaze once again. She doesn't get the time to apologize and explain what she meant that he launches himself in an explanation: "I uh, I just thought that it would be, I mean, I saw you the other night watching um–"

He's snapping his fingers in an impatient gesture, looking for his words, and Jemma bites the inside of her cheek, not knowing if he'd like for her to chime in or not. Sometimes he does, but most time he definitely doesn't, snapping at her if she tries – or getting annoyed because she doesn't get what he wants to say, and it's just confusing him even more. She thinks she knowswhat he's looking for in this particular case though, because she's pretty sure she's figured out his thought process leading to this project, so she takes the leap after a moment. "Watching Harry Potter?"

"Right, yes, thank you," he nods sharply, still not meeting her eyes, "watching that, and there was that scene, where he gets the uh–"

"The invisibility cloak," she finishes for him with an encouraging smile. He finally looks up to her, his gaze unsure and shy, and she feels her heart drop in her chest for no reason. They stare at each other for a couple of seconds, then he nods again, clearing his throat.

"Yes, that."

"Well, this is brilliant, Fitz," she tells him after a few seconds of tensed silence, and rolls her eyes when he scoffs like he doesn't believe her. "I mean it," she frowns, moving to nudge him in the ribs like she would have done before, but then thinking better of it. "Truly."

He vaguely shrugs, avoiding her eyes once again, tapping the edge of the bench with the side of his thumb in what seems to be a nervous gesture. "I still need to um, recalibrate the uh, the um–" He's growing restless, annoyed at himself for not finding his words, and she wants to help him but she doesn't, thinking it would only reinforce his annoyance right now. She waits for him to untangle words from his injured brain, hoping that showing him that she can be patient means he can be too. She wants him to realize how much better he is right now, but she doesn't know how to make him. It's probably something he has to do on his own. "The um, the on-switch!"

"Right," she nods, fighting her smile at how satisfied he seems to be, "are you going to trigger it remotely or...?"

"Either that or with a button somewhere, probably in the middle of the thing I think."

"Yeah, remotes do tend to get lost," Jemma says, giving him a mischievous side-eye and wondering if he'll pick up on it. She's not disappointed. He rolls his eyes with a disgruntled scoff and she smirks.

"Doesn't matter if you make another one now, does it," he mumbles in his beard, and she laughs. "And you _were_ particularly glad I added the lightswitch feature anyway."

"It _was_ very practical," she concedes, shaking her head in amusement, and her heart jumps in her chest when she meets his blue eyes. He's looking the closest to happy she's seen him in a while, and it warms her up from head to toes. She wants to tell him, but doesn't want to jinx it at the same time, so she settles for a small smile. She's surprised to see his lips twitch as well, in a shy and fleeting smile that makes her want to hug him.

She obviously refrains herself, and looks back to what's essentially an invisibility cloak in front of her. She really did mean it when she told him it was brilliant. The Harry Potter fan in her is absolutely delighted. She can't believe they didn't think of doing _that_ before. Granted, they'd never worked on cloaking before, only learned some vague notions about it in their last year at the Academy, but still. The fun they would have had with that kind of thing at the Academy, the pranks they could have pulled! The possibilities are endless.

She wonders what his plan is, once the cloak is finished.

She wonders if he wants to include her in said plan, or not.

He probably doesn't.

She sets the blanket back on the bench and takes a step back, giving him another shy smile. She doesn't want to pressure him into anything. He did tell her that he didn't want to work with her anymore after all. She should probably go to bed anyway, it's getting pretty late. There's another awkward silence for a moment, while she tries to make herself tell him so, but it's like she can't. She wants to stay here, with him. She doesn't want to go to bed just yet. She thinks they're getting somewhere, or at least she hopes they are.

It's all very confusing, once again.

He's glancing at her, worrying the pad of his thumb on his palm, which tells her that he's nervous again. When their eyes meet he looks away, lightly tapping his fist on the edge of the bench twice. She eventually opens her mouth, resigned to go to bed, but to her great surprise he actually beats her to it. "I uh, I could... I could actually use your help on uh, _technicalities_."

"Technicalities?" she repeats, arching a curious eyebrow at him. She wonders if he can hear the hopefulness in her voice. _She_ definitely can.

"Coming up with pranks?" His gaze is hesitant, and the words come out of his mouth like a question, like he isn't sure if she'd even want to do any of this in the first place. She wants to tell him how ridiculous that is of him to believe that, how she actually thought about the exact same thing minutes ago – how _fun_ it would be to pull pranks on people with an _invisibility cloak_. She wants to reassure him, wants to tell him that despite the awkwardness of their relationship right now, she would always say yes to work with him if he asks. She doesn't say any of that though. She's not entirely sure why. She's always been a little shy, but not as shy as she is now around Fitz. Her best friend in the world.

She wants to be his best friend again. She really does.

"I would love to help."

Something shifts in his familiar blue eyes, and Jemma thinks she catches a shy smile stretching his lips for a fleeting second before he looks down at his feet again. It makes her heart swell in her chest. She doesn't hide her own smile, hoping it's encouraging and friendly, hoping it masks the fact that she feels about to cry all of a sudden.

"Let's get to work then," Fitz tells her after a minute, his eyes both shy and determined at the same time. Jemma simply nods at that, her smile fading from her lips but not from her eyes. Her heart is beating strongly in her chest, and she cannot help the surge of happiness and deep affection for him at the idea of working together on something.

It's tough, but they're getting there, and she's very grateful for it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter: Jemma like, "What's this I'm feeling? Ahhhh probably nothing, I'm just tired, that makes sense right?"
> 
> #denial

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, new idea! I'm not gonna try to plan anything because it's been established that I suck at that, and instead I'm just gonna write and see where this goes :D  
> Enjoy!

**Chapter 2**

"So, who do you think we should start with?" Jemma asks, settling comfortably on the large couch of the common room. She clicks her pen twice, notebook propped on her knees, and turns her gaze towards Fitz. He's sitting next to her, head propped on the back of the couch, his eyes turned up to the ceiling in a musing expression.

"Well, I know who we _shouldn't_ start with," he answers after a few seconds of thinking. The pointed look he gives her makes it hard not to smile, and she shakes her head in amusement. She thinks she already knows who he's referring to, and she admits it, it makes sense.

"May?" she guesses with a raised eyebrow. She likes the side-eye Fitz offers her before answering.

"Yeah."

"Are you afraid of her?" she half-teases, mindlessly drawing a spiral on the top corner of her page. She was kind of expecting a mumbled denial in response, so she's a bit surprised when he sits up a little and looks at her in disbelief.

"Are you _not_?" he scoffs, and she laughs lightly. She likes the way his eyes showcase perfectly his amusement at her reaction, even if it only lasts a second before he looks down at his hands.

She watches as he rubs the pad of his thumb on his palm, her smile slowly fading away as the silence stretches around them. All signs point to it being an uncomfortable silence – he's fidgeting, and intently not looking at her – but she's not entirely sure it's the case. She doesn't know what to say to break it, but she doesn't know if she _needs_ to break it anyway. Fitz seems lost in thoughts, and she doesn't want to intrude on that, so she waits, stealing glances at him every now and then. Eventually he takes a sharp breath, rolling his hands in fists for a second before relaxing his fingers again. His voice is quiet when he speaks.

"She was good to me when, when you..."

"Oh." It's her turn to look down at her hands, fingers wrapped tightly around her pen. He doesn't finish his sentence. They both know he doesn't need to. She wraps herself in her guilt for a few seconds, before her brain actually registers the lack of resentment in his voice. This is just a statement, he is not saying this to blame her or to make her feel bad. His voice might have been a little sad, and she's pretty sure his eyes would prove that easily if she were to meet them, but this is not another fight. He wants her to know. Wants to share with her what it was like for him.

He wants to fix this, too.

It's an overwhelming realization, and she has to stare down at her notebook hard for a few seconds to will the tears of relief out of her eyes. When she thinks it's safe to look up she does, surprised to meet his gaze. He's looking unsure but he doesn't look away, and she smiles softly, shyly, hoping he can read in her eyes what she's feeling – because she herself isn't sure _what_ she's feeling at all. She thinks she wouldn't be able to explain any of it in words.

He seems to understand that, and she's very thankful for it. His lips twitch in a sad little smile, but there's no anger in his eyes. Just acceptance. It is what it is, there's no going back to simpler times now, and the best they can do is move forward, step by step, until they find themselves again. Her smile wavers and she looks away, taking a deep breath to calm the pounding of her heart.

They keep quiet for a few minutes, but it's not an unpleasant silence anymore. It's lighter, more comfortable, a little like the silence they sometimes observed while studying at the Academy. Granted, it didn't happen very often – they were more the type to work while bickering about anything and everything – but that's still what it reminds her of. Simpler times. Working on homework and extracurricular projects just for the sake of science.

This, this is what they are.

They have a project again. They're both trying to fix the mess they got themselves into. They're going somewhere, together.

"Okay so," she takes another deep breath, tapping the end of her pen on her notebook to regain focus. "I was thinking we should probably start with either Skye or Trip."

"Why Trip?" Fitz asks with a frown, and she remembers the few times she'd caught him giving Trip the stink eye when he was behaving, well, like Trip – overtly friendly, borderline flirting with her, which was pretty fun really. Thinking back, Jemma realizes now that she definitely should have figured that Fitz was probably a little jealous back then. It was kind of obvious, when she thinks about it. It _is_ very obvious at the moment.

She definitely doesn't know how to address that kind of thing for now – what it _means_ , what it makes her _feel_ –, so she stores that information for later and shrugs. "I just think it would be pretty easy to mess with him," she explains with a light smile, "and with Skye too, remember those times back on the Bus?"

Fitz makes a non-committal face, avoiding her eyes, and she notices his hands are shaking a little all of a sudden. New crucial piece of information, she thinks, do not mention the Bus. It definitely makes sense, she should have known. That was her bad.

"Um, so I wrote down some of my ideas," she tells him enthusiastically, hoping to get him to stop mopping. "If you wanna, maybe... take a look?" She holds out her notebook for him to take, biting her lower lip, slightly worried that she messed everything up by mentionning the Bus. He seems to be avoiding her eyes again, scratching behind his ear nervously.

"Right, yeah, thanks," he whispers, glancing quickly at her before grabbing the notebook. Their fingers brush in the process, and Jemma feels her heart jumping in her chest because of it. She takes her hand back hastily, and then it's her turn to avoid his gaze this time.

She is such a mess.

What is happening to her? She's touched Fitz before. Their friendship wasn't exactly tactile per se before, with both of them being very awkward teens when they first became friends – and staying mostly that even as they got older – but still, they've had their fair share of, well, touching, as in high-fives, hugs every now and then, a few kisses on the cheek, and the occasional cuddling in front of the TV back at Sci-Ops when they were roommates. She has no idea why she's feeling weird about it. Why her heart seems to be pounding as she can feel Fitz' eyes burning the side of her face.

She eventually sees him from the corner of her eyes look down to the notebook in his hands, and she fights herself not to let out the desperate sigh of relief bubbling at her lips. Why is she being so weird, why is it so difficult? When everything used to be so simple, so perfect? Maybe she's just tired, she reasons. It is half past eleven after all. They should probably get to bed, they are expected to be up and about fairly early every morning anyway. That would be the wise thing to do, but the thing is, she doesn't want this evening to end. They haven't spent a night together like this in ages – thinking about it, it was even before Hydra messed up everything. It's still not exactly like what it used to be between them, but at least they're spending time together again, and she cannot even begin to say how much she's missed it.

She doesn't want to go to bed just yet.

"So what do you think?" she asks with a shy smile after a moment, observing the side of his face as he stares down at her list of possible pranks. He's looking thoughtful, and focused, and her heart does another little jump in her chest for no reason.

"Glitter everywhere, really?" he makes a face, meeting her eyes, and she pouts despite herself.

"That's a classic," she retorts with a scoff, her frown morphing into a grin when she sees the amusement in his blue eyes.

"Yeah, you're right," he nods lightly, and they stare at each other for a beat too long before both looking away at the same time. Jemma's heart seems to be pounding in her chest again, which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, so she takes a quick breath, pointing to a couple of points she's put into brackets on her list.

"I was thinking that we probably shouldn't recycle old pranks of ours," she explains, ignoring the rush of _something_ in her chest when Fitz shifts to notebook to the side just a little so she can better see. "That way people won't be able to trace anything back to us."

"Good point," Fitz nods again, and his voice is more enthusiastic than she's ever heard it to be in months. "Or, if we do, then we make sure it's on someone who doesn't know about it, like Bobbi, or, or Hunter."

"Or Mack," Jemma adds, throwing him a curious look when he grimaces at that. "What?"

"Yeah, I don't know if we should prank Mack," he says, running a hand through his hair, and she has to bite down her smile.

"Are you afraid of him too?" she retorts teasingly, chuckling lightly when Fitz gives her a side-eye once again.

"Simmons, have you _seen_ the man?" he sighs with a shake of his head. "Pretty sure he's the one that inspired George R. R. Martin to create The Mountain."

"Sounds about right," she smirks, and the amused look Fitz gives her at that makes her heart jump again. "So, you're saying no pranks on either Mack or May?"

"Well, at least not until we get more, more," he hesitates, waving his hand between them for a few seconds, "more um, _experience_ first." He looks a little put off all of a sudden, probably because of his difficulty to find the right word again, so Jemma nudges him lightly, causing him to meet her eyes with hesitant ones.

"That's a plan," she tells him with a smile, and he stares at her in silence for a moment, before smiling shyly too. They look at each other a couple of seconds, then both look down at the same time again, and Jemma wonders if he's as thrilled about this as she is.

"This is fun," Fitz whispers, and his voice is very shy and quiet, and Jemma feels the sudden urge to grab his hand and hold onto it for as long as he'll let her – but she doesn't. She just smiles when their eyes meet, her cheeks feeling a little warm all of a sudden.

"It really is," she nods, looking down at her hands sheepishly. This shared admission somehow makes things a little easier between them, and for the next hour they talk about the different pranks Jemma thought about, pondering over which one would work the best, how to make them work, and most importantly who to target. They come up with a plan to make sure no one can figure out that they are the ones behind the pranks, said plan including finding the blind spots of the surveillance cameras in the lab, the common room, and the storage room,and agreeing to always make sure to take the invisibility cloak off in said blind spots, when there's no one around. They also come up with a safe word – _flobotanum_ – to alert the other in case it's not safe to come out, and agree to keep all their 'research' entirely secret and not to write too much of anything, to not risk a team member finding _proof._

It almost feels like a super-spy kind of mission, and the enthusiasm they share for it is so comfortable and invigorating they stay up way too late. After a little while though, Fitz becomes less and less talkative, only nodding and mumbling things here and there in response, and he eventually lays his head on the back of the couch again, crouching even more in his seat, and Jemma cannot help the fond smile on her lips.

Her own eyes are getting heavy with sleep too, and even if she had been in the middle of a complex argument on whether or not they should restrain themselves to pranks on the base or extend the perimeter to the bus and/or the recently acquired Quinjet, she stops herself and nudges him lightly in the ribbs. "Are you falling asleep?" she asks quietly, smirking when he looks up at her with tired eyes.

"No?" he mumbles, running a hand over his face, and she chuckles, standing up.

Fitz looks up in surprise as she offers a hand, and she smiles again. "Come on," she tells him softly, "let's get you to bed."

She watches as he hesitates for a moment, long enough for her to feel awkward to be standing there with her hand extended like that – and to overthink everything, what if he'd rather stand up alone, what if her offering to help him up diminishes him in some way, what if he doesn't want to hold her hand at all, what if he doesn't want their friendship to be like that anymore, what if... – but then he's taking her hand and standing up, and her brain shuts down entirely.

His hand is soft and warm in hers, and her skin is tingling from touching his skin. They stand there for a few seconds, hand in hand, and they're very close, and her heart is pounding again, and his blue eyes on her are so familiar and yet hold something she's never seen in them before too, something that takes her breath away.

Then he takes a step back and drops her hand, and the feeling floats away, leaving her with a pounding heart and the ghost of his hand in hers lingering on her skin. He smiles sheepishly, running a hand in his hair, and without a word they both agree to walk side by side out of the common room. Jemma doesn't forget her notebook, wrapping her arms around it, pressing it against her chest. They walk in silence towards their rooms, and they're close, close enough that their shoulders brush a couple of time, and when they stop in front of Fitz' door, she's somehow an emotional _mess_. She figures she's just very tired, it's almost 2 in the morning, of course she's exhausted. That's just it, it has to be.

They hesitate awkwardly in front of the door for a minute, and Jemma finds herself to be very nervous, for some reason. She doesn't know what to say or do, so instead of doing anything she just stands there like an idiot in the dark hallway, until Fitz smiles a shy thing, scratching the side of his head. "So, um," he hesitates, "goodnight Simmons?"

It comes out like a question, and it makes her chuckle. She likes the blank look he gives her in response. It somehow takes her out of her deeply nervous state and she nods with a smile. "Goodnight Fitz."

Even in the poorly-lit hallway Jemma spots the happy shift in her best friend's eyes, and for the nth time that night her heart does a little jump in her chest. They smile to each other, then Fitz opens the door, leaving her to find her way back to her own room. She does so trying to convince herself that these little heart 'backflips' are only due to her happiness to be around Fitz again, and to them working on being friends again.

She doesn't manage to though.

Because some part of her wonders if there's not something else there too, something infinitely more complicated, and she definitely has no idea how to deal with _that_ just yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you guys know, I accidentally wrote the last two chapters of this the other day in my head, so I basically know where this is going, I just don't exactly know HOW 😂  
> This is an adventure! :D  
> Hope you enjoyed this, I just love writing my Fitz-Simmons babies ❤️

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for reading! ♥


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